


I pick my poison and it's you

by theleftboobgrabber



Series: Tumblr fics [7]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: 5x06 argument, Angst, Episode: s03e06, M/M, Malec Angst, No cheating, POV Multiple, Simon Lewis & Isabelle Lightwood Friendship, injured magnus, simon is as straight as i am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-23
Updated: 2018-04-23
Packaged: 2019-04-26 21:17:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14410734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theleftboobgrabber/pseuds/theleftboobgrabber
Summary: Perhaps if he had been less eager, less greedy, they wouldn’t be there. Alec might have been in the loft earlier and helped Magnus immediately with his injuries… but what ifs never solved anything.





	I pick my poison and it's you

**_simon_ **

Simon doesn’t quite understand what the hell he’s seeing. He knows for sure it burns his retinas like the sun would incinerate his body if he wasn’t a daylighter and that it puts the wrath of god in him but, overall, he can’t really compute. A sweet smell in the room is cloying his throat, making him salivate and feeling hot under his clothes but he can’t place it either. He’s too shocked, frozen for a second, his brain going at 100 miles an hour to catch up...

Because what’s in front of him looks a lot like Magnus Bane cheating on his boyfriend. Who’s like, seconds away from seeing it too and while Alec can be a huge douche face sometimes (lots of times), he also doesn’t deserve that. His heavy boots aren’t making that much noise but Izzy’s divine high heels clack on the wooden stairs like a sexy metronome, up and up the stairs, ready to get heartbroken.

And Magnus fucking Bane is shirtless in his living room with a woman on his couch -Simon can see her _naked legs_ on the couch arm and oh my god what did he just interrupt? He’s so ashamed of ever fanboying over Magnus.

So Simon screams. Loud and clear and _angry_ because ex-High Warlock of Brooklyn or not, Magnus is about to get destroyed. Atomized. Erased for this plane of existence.

The footsteps in the staircase intensifies as the Lightwood siblings hear him and rush to his ‘help’ and it’s unfortunately at that moment that the sweet smell in Magnus’ loft makes sense in Simon’s head.

It’s blood.

It’s blood and it’s too much, gallons and gallons of the stuff. Simon wants to vomit, to search the loft for the source and lap at it and run away and bit something - _someone_ \- and stake himself. All. At. Once. Fucking Camille and fulking vampire bite.

Magnus’ unfocused eyes aren’t lost in pleasure, they’re feverish, like the man is about to topple over in a faint. Simon mistakenly identified it as being in the throws of passion, the sweet, disgusting smell of blood in the loft messing with his perception. Magnus’ makeup is smeared by sweat, his skin is pale, sickly. The warlock doesn't react to Simon’s screaming, too haggard to focus.

But the Lightwoods do. React that is. Running up the stairs before coming to a full stop behind Simon, not even winded by going up three stories at top speed.

“Wha-” Izzy says but Alec’s desperate “Magnus!” drows whatever she’s asking, even for Simon’s vampire ears, and Alec just pushes past him, kneeling near Magnus and tries to get his attention, without success.

_Oh shit._

 

**_izzy_ **

Izzy’s a good sister. And by that she means that, when it’s appropriate, she’ll give hell to Alec, Jace and Max. And sometimes, it’s better and way more efficient than giving them a hug.

Alec was grumpy tonight, even after ending their patrol, and stopping by the Hunter’s Moon for a beer or two ( _when did Alec even started to drink?_ ). So Izzy takes him for a walk and, nicely, without him so much realizing it (he’s hopeless), she stops them right across the street from Magnus’ loft.

Of course, Alec protests, “but you don’t understand Izzy, he might be busy and I’ve been at his loft a lot this week, he said we _had_ to slow down”.

And on and on and on, with a dejected expression on his face that breaks her heart, which is why she punches him -not too hard- on the arm). It’s not like the heart eyes Magnus gets when Alec is around are hard to understand and whatever turbulence zone they’re flying through, they’ll be ok.

When Alec finally agrees to at least knock on the door, they stumbles on Simon who’s straightening his shirt in the mirror in Magnus’ lobby. Izzy is delighted, because unlike her brothers, she can see how funny Simon is and how much he cares under his scared bunny persona. Alec’s face hardens and barely nods at the vampire (Izzy elbows him, _rude_ ). Simon probably get a sense of Alec’s mood and moves up the staircase at full vampire speed, leaving Izzy and her sulking brother climb the stairs at a more human pace.

“Can’t you be nicer to the guy?” she asks as they go up.

“No,” Alec deadpans.

“Magnus is fond of him… and so am I, please?”

“Believe me, my plate is already full, I don’t have to add befriending Simon on top of it,” he answered testily.

Which… is actually true? “Okay okay, I see your point, but-”

Simon’s piercing scream is loud in the silence of the apartment building and they don’t have to look at each other, don’t have to concert. They might not be parabatai, but they’re still a deadly duo together. Alec’s bow materialises as he takes the stairs three at a time -damn those giant legs of his- and Izzy unsheathes her angel blade, following him quickly.

The loft smells like blood and Izzy tenses right up, taking in the scene in front of her. Magnus looks _stoned_. His forearms are burned. A naked woman is on his couch.

“Wha-” she begins to say but Alec just dash for his boyfriend, nearly knocking Simon down in his hurry.

Izzy gets a move on, shaking the surprise of the scene and approaches the couch warily, not sure what she’s going to find on the couch (or what she would rather deal with).

It’s young woman. She’s naked and on her belly, straight blond hair crusted together with blood and grime, body covered in bites marks and actual fangs still piercing her mangled skin. Something inky black oozes from her multiples wounds, smelling strongly of fis-

“Siren poison!” Izzy shouts, looking back at Magnus’ burned hands and forearms. “He must have touched her before realizing what the hell was going on.”

For a second, Izzy’s vision swirls, flashing back to Alec -much younger then, his injured thigh and the poison in his blood making him incoherent, Jace’s tears and her own and the fear. They had been very close of losing him that night.

She takes a deep breath, then “Simon! Gets some water boiling and find a pair of tweezers or something to extract the fangs, Alec - _Alec!_ ” she repeats, forcing her brother's attention away from Magnus’ injuries, “we need to clean their wounds with salt water and… and -” shit, she can’t remember, she’s thirteen again and _useless_ , hyperventilating and...

“Fucus vesiculosus,” Alec says without missing a bit, “yeah I remember.”

Simon scrambles for the kitchen while Alec takes a barely conscious Magnus to another couch and, after kissing his forehead, runs to the kitchen as well.

“Now, let’s do this,” Izzy says to herself as she ties her hair up before getting some medical gloves from her pocket.

This is going to be a long night.

 

**_alec_ **

Alec isn't panicking (much).

He's good under pressure but not so good when his loved ones are at risk. _Shit_.

He might have his issue with Magnus at the moment… him storming out like an asshole this morning can’t be the last time got with him, he won’t forgive himself. God, let him be okay. Let him live. He breathes in and out, reluctantly putting aside his self loathing about the argument. He had forgotten, too caught up over the issue of his own mortality, that Magnus’ immortality didn’t protect him from harm.

_“Here, take that.” Magnus had given him a key. The key. The gesture was almost careless, like it was of no consequence and carried no meaning. "You’re always welcomed here." he had said, casual._

God, Alec should have pick up on his tone and his little act then. How he didn’t want to address this odd living situation.

_Alec looked from the key to Magnus to the key again. "You're giving me this?" he asked, startled._

_"Well, I'm giving it to my future self really,” Magnus said dismissively, but not without smiling at Alec. “this way if I’m not home you’ll be able to welcome me properly. You’re encouraged to do it without clothes, of course.”_

_And that had been the end of the conversation, because Magnus always jokes to dismiss topic he doesn’t want to explore further._

_Alec’s head had been full of words then. The fact that Magnus trusted him with this... It was a lot. "Thank you Magnus," he said finally. For the trust. For everything. “Thank you,” Alec repeated, emotions running wild inside him, before catching him in a tight a hug and hiding his face in the crook of Magnus warm neck._

Perhaps if he had been less eager, less greedy, they wouldn’t be there. Alec might have been in the loft earlier and helped Magnus immediately with his injuries… but _what ifs_ never solved anything.

So Alec quickly works beside Simon in the kitchen, retrieving rock salt first before looking through Magnus’ carefully labelled collection of potion ingredients for the algae that counteracts siren poison -he hopes that Magnus has some, or else he’ll have to go run to the Institute and back here again. There were some black smudges of the poison on Magnus’ forearms, so the he must have tried to get the goo off, but without the algae, it’s impossible. The pain is excruciating and, with a patient (client? friend?) on his couch, he mustn't have think of it before the poison sapped his magic and left him too weak to do anything.

“What the hell?” Simon mutters to his left. “What. The. _Hell_.”

Alec glances at the vampire. He’s a disaster. Alec doesn’t mean that unkindly, but it’s the truth. Shit, all that blood must be fucking with his head. Still, he’s waiting (not patiently, but Alec can’t blame him) for the kettle to boil and even added four saucepans on the stove to have as much water ready as they’ll need. _Good instincts. Good nerves._

“You’re doing good,” Alec tells him, uncapping a huge mason jar full of _fucus vesiculosus_. “There’s blood in the fridge, I think.” Magnus keeps some for Raphael in there. Alec found that the hard way one morning when he woke up and got close to drink it (to his defence, he was absolutely out of it. Still, it had been one hell of a wake up call).

Simon nods, a bit surprised it seems, and goes drink something.

“Tweezers! And more gloves if you can find some!” Izzy shouts suddenly and Alec gestures at Simon to stay in the kitchen to watch the boiling water and he goes to the bathroom.

Magnus, perhaps because of his age, is very meticulous and organized. He might not look or act the part sometimes but he’s _ready_ for everything (Alec knows... Alec knows what’s inside the drawers of Magnus’ nightstand. Alec fucking knows). In the bathroom, it’s not condoms, lubes and other… things he finds, but the huge first aid kit that he spotted there a while ago.

Alec brings it -plus a bassin _-_ back to the living room, where Isabelle is swearing under her breath.

“Simon, there’s a red cabinet with clean tablecloths and hand towels in it. Take as much as you can and bring them here when the water’s ready,” Alec asks. He opens the first aid kit and put some gloves before giving Izzy the tweezers she needs to extract the fangs more quickly.

While he stayed in the kitch, Magnus lost consciousness on the other couch and Alec wants to throw up, to scream. But there nothing to do except hope.

In the kitchen, the kettle loudly stops whistling.

 

**_izzy_ **

Izzy breaths in and out.

She has done this before. Shax demon claws, ravener teeth… Shadowhunters tend to end up looking like pincushions after a good fight and she was the one that has to patch them up most nights before she got the weapon master gig. Siren fangs are no different, even if the last time she was confronted by it she hadn’t been able to help… too young, too distraught… too useless. That last word hadn’t been spoken at loud but the way her mom had pushed her away while Hodge had been busy saving Alec’s life had been telling enough.

 _No more_ , she had sworn to herself as Jace was rocking her -or she was rocking him? both probably. They had waited outside the infirmary, sitting on the ground, not daring to speak. Max wasn’t there. He was barely more than a toddler then and blissfully asleep in his bedroom. In truth, extracting the fangs from Alec’s leg and cleaning the burns couldn’t have taken more than an hour but the world had stood still in that corridor, the distinct possibility of a life without her big brother taking shape in front of her until Hodge had opened the door and let them in to see Alec, pale and sweaty but asleep.

 _No more_ , she swore then. Of course, even that oath couldn’t curb Alec’s tendencies to get in harm’s way.

Her patient is breathing. Faintly, but still. Her back is clean of the most part of the slimy siren poison, but blood is still running freely from her wounds. That and her skin is burned in a way a mundane couldn’t survive, unless they were in a special care unit (and involving consequent quantity of painkiller). And that’s even without factoring in the poison running through her veins... No, a mundane would be dead.

Vampires are immune to this particular poison as it can only affect the living. Simon doesn’t have to use gloves to help Izzy and is dislodging the barbed fangs more quickly than she can with his bare fingers. A werewolf would have already turned rabbit, due to the pain and shifted to get rid of the fangs stuck in their human skin. Seelies wouldn’t be caught dead near a beach in the first place, or trapped by what seems to have been an entire school of sirens.

So that girl is a warlock. Not that Izzy can see a demon mark (or that she actually cares about it) but that explains why Magnus is injured as well.

 _The girl probably portaled here for help_ , Izzy muses as she works, _and Magnus catched her without realizing what she was covering in._

Siren poison doesn’t need to be in the blood to _damage_. Izzy glances at Magnus, worried. His arms are in a pretty bad shape but Alec seems to be doing fine caring for him.

“Izzy? Can I ask you something?” Simon murmures. He’s been really quiet until now, helping and running from the couches to the kitchen to bring more hot water when needed.

“Sure, shoot,” she says as she pulls yet another fang from the warlock’s shoulder and drops it in a black stained bowl.

“A siren did this?” Simon asks, eyes wide and forehead lined with worry.

“Sirens, plural,” she says. “This girl must have put on an impressive fight for the sirens to attack just one prey so viciously”.

“So… sirens are bad? So much for Ariel being adorable… And Maia is going to flip when I tell her about this.”

“Ariel is a mermaid. That’s not the same,” she explains. Sometimes she forgets how much Simon (and Clary too) ignore about their world, how sheltered they had been raised. _Mundanes_. It’s unfair but she pushes down the bitterness… it’s not a useful emotion right now.

“Wait… you know who Ariel is?”

“Hodge had some Disney movie smuggled inside the Institute when we were little...” she trails off, emotions hitting her in the stomach like a seraph blade. Oh. She shouldn't have said that. Thought that. Hodge is a traitor. Hodge is _dead._ Hodge isn't a safe subject anymore or a source of comfort. She needs to stuff anything related to Hodge - _her second father-_ into the box under her bed, locked away. But sometimes he slips in his mind like a favored teddy bear and it’s hard to remember that she must hates him.

“Wha… smuggled? Damn,” Simon says under his breath. Isabelle knows he’s pitying her. Part of her wants to shout, the other wants to agree.

“Merpeople are nice,” she says. “Sirens aren’t downworlders, they’re creatures, like ghouls and dragons. They _eat_ everything they can.”

“Drag- whaaaaaat?”

“Dragons are extincts Iz,” Alec cuts in, “stop scaring Simon.”

“Dragons! That’s… well. Okay. I’ll never play Skyrim the same way now.”

Izzy frowns. As much as she enjoy Simon’s company, he does speak in tongues sometimes.

“Hey, can I have more rock salt and algae? I’m running out,” Alec asks.

Izzy look at him and Magnus then. Alec’s hands are covered in the funky smelling green paste he made with the salt and the algae and so is Magnus’ entire left arm. Magnus’ right arm his covered with wet towels soaked in ice cold water to calm the burns on his skin until Alec can apply some ointment.

Simon passes him a bowl full of it (damn it, they’ll need more before the night is over) and resumes plucking fangs out of the girl left leg.

“This isn’t how I envisioned my night,” he confesses. “I mean, I don’t mind helping, but Magnus said he was going to make vampire friendly sangria for me tonight and help me with...” he trails off, frowning. “Nothing. Just vampire things.” He rubs at his forehead, smearing some venom on his skin.

“You had a date with Magnus?” is out of Izzy’s mouth before she can think better of it.

“A da- no! A man date! Yes- wait, no, that’s worse, I swear Alec I’m not trying to steal Magnus!” Simon stutters. “We’re just bros! And I’m really, really happy with Maia.”

Alec doesn’t even acknowledge the babble, too focused on spreading the healing ointment on Magnus’ burnt hand.

Izzy chuckles. “Well, I guess that you and I would have ended up back at the Hunter’s Moon. Alec was in dire need of a cuddle from his _boyyyfriend_ ,” she singsongs, trying for levity.

“I wasn’t,” Alec denies. It’s pretty weak, even by Alec’s standard of “ _no Izzy, I don’t need good things_ ” declarations (which had been less and less common for the last two months. Magnus is so good for him despite their recent… argument).

His rebuck was so weak in fact that Simon giggles and adds, with a conspiratorial look to Izzy, “Dude, you always look like you need a cuddle.”

Alec doesn’t raise his head but Izzy can feel him glaring at them _in spirit._ “You’re proposing, Lewis?” he snarks back.

Simon chokes on a mouthful of blood he was trying to drink and Izzy laughs despite the situation.

“Yeah, because Magnus wouldn’t portal me to the sun if I made a move on his precious Alexander,” Simon says, wincing.

Izzy isn’t surprise when Alec throws a wet towel to Simon’s head with dead accuracy.

 

**_simon_ **

Isabelle is really mesmerizing. And Simon isn't talking about her being super pretty.

She’s barely older than him and she’s a genius (hell, it isn’t clear to him if she’s a _doctor_ , like House MD or something but for the things that bump in the night; or just picked it all on the go -both are terribly impressive. Damn, Simon can’t deal because she’s like those people he knows from high school that already have their lives under control while he's just, well, dead. And being tattooed against his will with tree magic or whatever). Her hands don’t tremble when she works, she stays focused even when she jokes and she gets very cute dimples when she smiles.

She's definitely his favourite Lightwood, even after Jace helped him with Kyle and the Praetor Lupus nonsense yesterday. And that organisation still ominously sounds like a pretty bad disease, so he better ask Luke and Maia about it asap. That as to be a major pissing contest in the making for them to be there without asking Luke first, unless they do what the fuck they want regardless of pack law and etiquette.

But for now, Simon doesn't have to worry about that, so he focuses his attention on the task at end, even if they’e nearly done.

It’s weird to see the precautions with which the siblings handle the venom. Simon could probably rub his face in the stuff or swallow a gallon of it, it wouldn’t affect him ( _yeah! Victory for the undead… ?_ ) but both Lightwoods are very careful, to the point that Alec collected every stained towels, bowls, cushions and discarded plastic gloves into a big plastic bag to trash them or something. The eldest Lightwood rubbed rock salt water on every surface in the living room, though perhaps the whole cleaning spree was to occupy his hands after being done with Magnus’ burns.

“Isn’t Magnus going to be pissed you have thrown his stuff away?” he asks Alec.

“I just put them in Magnus’ casting room so he can dispose of the poison safely. He might be able to take the poison out and keep it for later,” he says softly as he put a pillow under Magnus’ head and adjust the thin blanket covering his naked chest (and honestly, can he be more precious? Simon is barely restraining himself from taking pictures to show Magnus later).

“Keep it?”

“That's what mom did when I got bitten. It’s useful since it doesn’t rot. We coat arrows and blades in it,” Alec explains, eyes far away.

And _what?_ “You got…” Simon looks down at the girl, her skin mostly fangless now and half covered in algae muck. “This?”

Alec shrugs, proving once again that he’s a) not human and that b) shadowhunters are complete weirdos when it comes to pain and actual coping skills.

“Not as much,” Alec explains. He pats his thigh before scratching the back of his head. “I don’t remember much, that stuff make you delirious.”

Beside Simon, Isabelle tenses up and rips the last fang out.

“There was a lot of singing,” she jokes. Simon doesn’t need to know her that much to see right through her fake cheeriness.

Alec doesn’t look more happy, but still answers “you and Jace keep saying that…” with a very unamused snort.

It sounds like a old arguments that scarified, leaving stiff skin in its wake. Uh. Simon doesn’t prob at the sudden heaviness in the room and goes back the fridge to help himself with more blood, leaving the siblings finish up with the injured girl.

 

**_alec_ **

When Magnus begins to stir on the couch, Alec is on him in an instant and he doesn't worry about the knowing smiles Simon and Isabelle will throw his way later.

“ _‘saaaa_ ,” is the first thing out of Magnus’ mouth and Alec winces at the pain in his boyfriend's voice and on his face.

Alec cleaned his face from sweat before, smearing around make up artlessly until Izzy had groaned and send Simon fetch makeup remover from the bathroom. It’s crazy how soft Magnus looks without eyeshadow. The first time Alec saw him like this, his boyfriend had felt incredibly real and human and _his_ (to this day, Alec still gets a thrill out of waking up before Magnus can magic makeup on his face). Now though, Magnus looks sickly, vulnerable and small. Alec is terrified for him. He's supposed to be the one going first… not that the concept is particularly appealing, but Magnus came close to dying tonight… that's not something that Alec can easily look over.

“Magnus?” he calls, “it’s Alec. You’re okay and so is your friend.”

Magnus opens his eyes and, while he looks exhausted, they’re not feverish. “A’ec?”

“Yeah, Iz and Simon too,” Alec smiles, relief flooding him. He caresses Magnus’ forehead, happy that he’s not clammy or burning up anymore.

Magnus tries to touch him but stops mid motion, grunting in pain.

“Stop, your arms are in a bad shape. You got burn by siren poison… I-I,” he stops “I hope the salve on your arm is okay.”

“No, you did… good,” Magnus murmurs. He looks at his arms then, wincing and lets his head hit the pillow again. “How long since you put that on?”

Alec smiles. He and Magnus are pretty different at first glance, but they’re also stupidly alike when it comes to wait without anything to do... pretty bad at it.

“Not enough time for you to wash the ointment off and go around healing your burns and hers,” he says, trying to muster authority even as he pushes a sweaty strand of hair from Magnus’ eyes.

Magnus looks at him like he’s preparing for war but Izzy adds, voice sharp and intransigent “Magnus don’t think about it, doctor’s order or it’s no Alec for a week.”

Behind Alec, Simon snorts and Magnus’ cat eyes flash, there and gone in a second. Alec isn’t sure that Magnus realizes he let his glamour drop -Izzy seems pretty smug, unaware that Magnus made it pretty clear that Alec had to stop asking for more, and that he should back off  a little. Hell, after this morning, Magnus might be done with him. That stills Alec’s hand in Magnus’ hair and he bites his inner cheek.

“Like _he_ would stay away,” Magnus says weakly. It would have been extremely funny if Magnus had not glanced at Alec with something akin to fear in his brown eyes, like he isn’t sure, not anymore. They had been vicious with each other at breakfast, but apparently neither of the them are willing to let the other go. “Could I have a glass of water?”

Alec doesn’t have the time to get up that Simon is standing near him, holding a glass to Magnus’ lips.

 _Uh_ , Alec winces internally. He obviously misjudged Simon all along.

Mostly.

 

**_magnus_ **

Magnus is old. Older than he ever cared to be or dared believe he might reach. He lost countless people to age, violence and in some cases, because they got bored (Camille, unfortunately, isn’t the only one that lost interest in him after a while).

Ragnor’s death is still fresh and raw in his heart. His oldest friend, his _best_ friend. Senselessly killed for the dreams of grandeur of one little shadowhunter. He’s not letting anyone else die on him if he can help it. Raphael being hurt -no, not hurt, _tortured_ not so long ago- opened Magnus’ eyes even further.

That’s why when he felt Tessa trying to portal in his loft without calling first, he lowered his wards immediately, ready for everything (ranging from boy trouble to end of the world kind of news).

She stumbled out of the portal and he caught her in his arms by reflex.

Lots of things hitted him.

One, this naked girl isn’t Tessa. Two, the girl is hypothermic and drenched to the bone. Three, this _was_ Tessa, just not her skin or her bones, but it was her soul under this borrowed face looking up at him in utter pain. Four, his exposed forearms started to burn something fierce, so much he nearly dropped Tessa. He managed to let her fall on the nearest couch before he ripped his shirt off and tried to rub the black ichor that covered his skin away… glancing to Tessa’s prone form he could see -wavering vision or not- the fangs everywhere in her back, puncturing the skin on her arms, her legs; blood mixed with poison and water, dripping at a worrying rate on the couch and the floor.

 _Sirens. oH SHIT,_ he thought before stumbling to the floor, a pained giggle forcing its way through his mouth. Some poison must have reached his bloodstream and was quickly floating, up, up and away, not sure why he felt so worried a moment ago.

 

 

Magnus isn’t happy right now… Not with himself, not with Tessa ( _what the fuck_ was she doing with sirens in the first place?!) and certainly not with Izzy. The high the siren venom was sure more enjoyable than this.

“Open wiiiide,” she says, smile sharp as she presents him with a healing broth he instructed her into making.

“I’m not a child,” he says curtly, before remembering those exact words in Alec’s mouth this morning. Shit.

Behind Izzy, Alec tenses right up before quickly looking away.

“You act like one, I treat you like one,” Izzy comments without missing a beat and helps Magnus drink the disgusting potion. “There is nothing wrong with waiting for the algae paste to absorb the last traces of poison from your skin.”

Fucking Hell, Izzy’s mocking was sweet… Magnus’ hadn’t certainly not be so playful. Did he really imply that Alexander should hop from one dick to the other and come back to him when he had some experience? It wasn’t Alec’s fault he didn’t know that love sometimes doesn’t last or that lust might leads him elsewhere.

He messed up. Big time.

“Uh, _this is vile,_ I told you to add cotton candy sugar in it!” Magnus groans between sips, mind racing. _First thing first, my arms and my magic._

Izzy shrugs. “There!” she says as Magnus drinks the last of the potion. “You can wash that _perfectly working_ ointment away and heal yourself now.”

Magnus doesn’t like the tone she’s using and suspects it’s probably the one she uses with her brothers when they do something stupid (which is always). It also sounds a lot like Catarina when she’s unimpressed with his actions, so he better keep the two women from ever meeting, or he won’t know peace ever again. He lets it go through, ready to prove her wrong and gets up.

He’s lucky that Alec was hovering by his side because he falls, knees buckling and breath punched out of his lungs by pain.

“Magnus!”

Alec’s worried voice is enough to mellow Magnus’ resolve of proving anything to anyone. That and the fact that Alec will use this against him every time Magnus complains about Alec not taking care of his health in the future. They’re both very stubborn and very aggressive about being right… birds of a feather and everything. One more reason to unfuck this tension between them asap.

“Yeah, could you be so kind as tooo-” Magnus words are cut when Alexander sweeps him off his feets, bridal carry style and begins to walk to the master bathroom with an unreadable expression on his face.

As they pass Simon, Magnus is pretty sure he hears the baby vampire says “this is so hot.”

Magnus has to bite his tongue not to whispers “you’re damn right” back.

 

**_simon_ **

“Izzy did you see that?” Simon asks, eyes still glued on the door where Alec and Magnus disappeared.

“What?”

“He just… swept him in his arms!”

“Did you plan on helping Magnus shower?” she asks sarcastically.

Well, he could- nope, brain, stop going there immediately… “But Magnus can’t be that light! I mean...”

“Or Alec is that muscled. He is. I had to grow up with all the other girls slobbering over him and Jace at the Institute. Believe me, there is nothing I haven’t heard.”

Finally, Simon stops staring at the bathroom door and looks at Izzy.

“What, they just went around telling you how much they wanted to have your brothers carrying them around?” That seems a bit weird, even by shadowhunter standards.

“Oh you’re so sweet…” she coos at him. “Not just carrying around,” she says, wiggling her eyebrows.

If Simon still had the ability to blush, he would be redder than Krypton’s sun right now. Well, before it turned supernova.

“That’s… ah. Good for Magnus I guess,” he says awkwardly, trying his damndest not to picture anything that might take place in Magnus’ loft when no one else is here. He looks around, suspicious, and glares at one of the pillars in the living room. Definitely prime fucking territory. Not he’s not imagine _anything._ AT ALL. Okay just a bit.

Isabelle laughs then, beautiful and uncaring now that she’s done saving the day, with only an edge of sleepiness in her eyes.

“You want a drink?” he asks her, unsure of what they’re supposed to do now that Magnus and Alec left them. Their patient doesn’t look like she’s waking up anytime soon. Drinking seems like a good plan.

“None of that,” she says, pointing at Simon’s attempt at blood sangria. It’s a disaster. Magnus’ would have probably tasted way better (or blood and alcohol don’t mix and Raphael has just messing with him when he still lived at DuMort).

“Oh sure, let me guess, martini?”

“After a night like this? Please, give me a good whisky if you can find some. Neat.”

“Oh, hard liquor girl, I see.” He nods, looking through Magnus’ impressive collection of alcohols ( _is this a problem?_ Because it looks like one to Simon, his mom was pretty keen on keeping lots of bottles around the house after his father’s death. Damn, he’ll worry about that later, even if Magnus’ mini bar looks more like an annex of the Hunter’s Moon). “Tadaa!” he exclaims, showing an unmarked glass decanter of whisky. “It’s always the good stuff fancy people put in those.”

As he serves Isabelle a drink, something catches his eyes and he turns his head, frowning. He could have swear he just saw the girl… ripples.

“Hum, I think the sangria is finally hitting me,” he mumbles, just as the girl ripples again, fingers twisting and her skin (the parts not green from the algae) changes color, getting lighter, her hair curling, turning deep brown.

Simon forces Izzy to turn and she gasps as the girl on the couch gets taller, gaining five inches in a matter of seconds.

Then comes a blood curdling scream and Simon drops both the decanter and the glass in shock and they crash at his feet.

_Magnus is going to kill him._

 

**_alec_ **

Alex saw Magnus naked before. But that was sex. And post shower sex. And cuddling in bed together. And tickle fights. This is entirely different. Because Magnus could have _died_ tonight. Come to think of it, Magnus is kind of always in danger. And he is looking up at Alec like he expects an argument starting in one, two, three…

“I was really scared for you,” Alec says. Not the first time… Morgenstern saw to that with his plan to kill all downworlders, but this was… more. Perhaps because Magnus wasn’t really hurt that time in the Institute, Alec just couldn’t find him (in his imagination, it had been a different story). _But Magnus was hurt_ , burnt and sick not a few hours ago. And they had fought this morning…

“So was I, before the poison got hold of me.”

Alec smiles, sad and grave and he knows that Magnus probably doesn’t need this right now, not with him being hurt and an unconscious friend on his couch. “Don’t exert yourself too much okay?” he still asks.

Deep inside, he knows that Magnus is fine, the poison blocked his magic, clouded his head and burnt some skin but he’s _fine_. He probably also is about to compensate feeling vulnerable by using his magic liberally, doing everything in his powers to erase any marks, ease everyone’s mind and regain control. And Alec know the feeling. But he can’t just let Magnus harms himself because he feels like it’s his duty to help. Oh the bitter irony hitting him right on the face now.

“I won’t. Tessa is a shift away from getting better. I just need to heal my arms. I won’t overdo it, I promise, Alexander.”

“Good,” Alec nods, then glances at the shower, “ready?”

Magnus nods but has the good sense of staying sitted where Alec put him. Alec goes to his knees and helps Magnus out of the skinny pants is wearing.

“Well, well, Mr. Lightwood, I see how it is.” His tone is coy, flirting even, but his voice is a bit weak.

“I’m just helping you,” Alec answers. Which is true… technically, they’re still fighting. He stands up, guiding Magnus on his feet before he fingers shyly at the waistband of his boxer. “This can stay,” he says. Magnus can try and keep an act of nonchalance up if he’s more comfortable with that, but that doesn’t mean Alec can’t be considerate about the vulnerability he knows lurks below the surface.

Magnus huffs and tries to gesture with his hands to get his boxers off but stops, wincing at the movement.

“You really are stubborn,” Alec comments, kissing his forehead before inching the boxers down and letting them drop to the floor. He looks away, clearing his throat and turn on the shower, helping Magnus under it.

 

**_izzy_ **

_Well, if Alec and Magnus didn’t hear that, nothing will get them out of the bathroom._

“Hey hey, you’re okay,” she says to the injured woman. Who apparently can shapeshift.

The woman doesn’t seem to care about nudity and gets up, legs wobbly like a newborn calf. “Magnus.”

“He’s okay. He’s getting clean.”

Simon coughs. Loudly.

When Izzy looks at him in exasperation, he’s innocently slurping on his bloody sangria again. _Boys._ “Listen there's an other-” she begins but stops when her eyes lands on the woman again, who took one of Magnus’ -whatever that is- and break it on the ground, forming a portal.

“Tell Mags I’m sorry for the mess, I’ll make it up to him later,” she says, looking like she might faint soon.

And with that she’s gone, leaving Simon and Isabelle in the living room, mouths gapping.

“Did she just-”

“Yeah.”

“But like-”

“Yeah. I’ll have that whisky now Simon.”

“Me too.”

 

**_ma_** **_gnus_ **

Nothing is ever easy. Especially not love. But it might be a little bit simpler when one party isn’t immortal and forced to lose his loved ones, again and again in a vicious circle.

The water might clean the algae and the crusted blood and he can knit his skin back together, some things can’t be so easily fixed.

“I’m sorry I keep on pushing you,” Alexander says from the other side of the bathroom. He looks like his day went just slightly better than Magnus’.

“You’re…” Magnus bites his lips. Alec was being undoubtedly petty at the breakfast table, throwing the box around like hurting everyone might help. “Okay. I’m not without fault either. Sometimes I forget how-”

“Young I am?” Alexander cuts him, ressement clear in his voice.

“How terribly broken some people left me, actually. But yes, you’re young, no one broke your heart so thoroughly you couldn’t even imagine loving yourself or someone else ever again. And then you say something or do something and it’s fresh and full of hope. _For you_. Me? I went through that, and I disappointed people as much as they disappoint me.”

“You could never-”

“You don’t know that!”

“ _You could never disappoint me_ , let me finish dammit,” Alexander persistes, getting closer, crowding Magnus. “It’s like you can’t wait to prove I’m going to be like Camille sometimes!”

“That’s not what I meant. I just don’t want you to make commitment you’ll regret later on.”

“You know, I see your point. But that doesn’t stop the real issue. I don’t have as much time as you do Magnus! Shadowhunters rarely live to old age. I’m… I’m perishable good. She was right on that.”

“You really think me that shallow that I’ll dump you the minute you're older?”

“No. You would stay. Through all the pain. But, it’s not just that. All my life I thought I would get married to some girl and be miserable. Then you came along and suddenly I felt strong enough to ask for what I wanted. And you know what? It’s not much. More or less the same life I nearly resigned myself to. Marriage, children, the Institute. But with someone I loved. With you.”

Alexander looks away, tears in his eyes and Magnus’ heart aches. He wants that too. Perhaps not today, he’s most certainly not ready for that. But one day…

But Alec continues, bitter. “Guess it was a silly little dream.” he moves away from Magnus but he stops him, dread in his belly. He feels that if he doesn’t get him to stay right now, he won’t get him back.

Because other men could offer all that to Alexander. Mortal men. And Magnus is many things and selfish is one of them. “Please, stay. I-I… actually don’t know what to say beside I love you.”

_It’s not enough. Please let it be enough._

“Magnus.” Alexander closes his eyes, tears finally dropping. “I love you too.”

And it’s broken and painful to hear, but it’s the only thing Magnus has for a very long second, before Alexander comes to a decision and engulfs Magnus in a hug that’s too tight and desperate.

It will have to be enough for tonight.  


**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> If you loved it, kudos and comments are ALWAYS a good way to show it!
> 
> Feedback is love ❤


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